


the winter of our discontent

by redwinter



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: AU, Annoyed!Lydia, F/M, MIT, Smart Power Couple 4 lyfe, cocky!stiles, what even
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-25
Updated: 2015-01-25
Packaged: 2018-03-08 23:38:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3227798
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/redwinter/pseuds/redwinter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>or the one where lydia has a terrible day</p>
            </blockquote>





	the winter of our discontent

**Author's Note:**

> hey! so this is sloppy and awful but i needed to get this out of my brain and onto (digital) paper. if you like it let me know xx

It starts like this:

  
It’s 3:30 on a Tuesday, the frigid Massachusetts air has made Lydia Martins’ face completely numb and she’s late for her Advanced Complexity Theory class. Long story short her day has been hell, her feet hurt and the Cambridge winter has finally started to make some of the skin around her nose dry up and flake. _Gross._

  
She’s walking fast while trying to balance her books, a steaming hot cup of coffee, and her oversized bag when she runs into something very solid.

  
Or rather, _someone_ very solid.

  
She yelps as hot coffee seeps through her skirt _(yes, a skirt, she’s Lydia friggin Martin, denim and leggings are for the weak and unfashionable. Cold be damned)_ and down her leg. Her bag falls to the ground with a loud _thud_ , spilling its contents on the way down. Luckily she had firm enough hold on her books so that they don’t fall onto the snow covered ground.

  
“Oh my god, are you okay? Damn it that coffee is hot as shit!” The twitchy, bundled up, wall of man says as he wipes her coffee off of his exposed fingers.

  
“Ugh! Watch where you’re going you inbred idiot!” She huffs at him. It’s totally irrational, seeing as how she wasn’t paying any attention to where she was going and subsequently spilt hot coffee on this unsuspecting bystander. But she wants desperately to ignore the fact that she’s in the wrong here. Lydia glances up at him briefly before bending down to pick up the scattered innards of her bag. He’s tall, wearing too many sweaters underneath his jacket, but still rather cute with his messy brown hair.

  
_Cute_. If you’re into honey colored eyes, high cheekbones, and a plump mouth that is.

_(She’s so not into that, if you’re asking, which you aren’t but yeah. Totally not.)_

Her Gucci wallet is wet and muddy, _ruined_. Damn.

  
She expects him to walk away, to scurry along and call her a _bitch_ under his breath like they all do, but he doesn't ( _a deity somewhere is punishing her, she’s sure of it_ ).

  
Apparently he was doing a balancing act too because he starts to collect a few books and papers of his own. She notices a slim book titled _Physics of Information_ and cringes. Computer Engineering majors are the worst group of sexist douchebags that MIT has to offer.

  
Her keys are the last item that she slips back into her bag. She stands and _oh god her back is killing her_. The man with the messy hair stands up too and has a look on his face that tells her that he’s been talking to her and is now waiting for a response.

  
_As if._

  
She walks away quickly, throwing her half empty cup in the nearest trash bin, and as much as she’d like to _she does not look back._

  
-

  
Today her alarm clock for whatever reason didn't wake her in time for her 8 am class, Allison left her no hot water, she broke not one but _two_ nails, she had the fiasco with the (not) cute Engineer and now she’s locked outside of her apartment.

  
Allison isn’t answering her calls or texts _(probably in the middle of doing the dirty with Isaac_ ) and there is no way in hell she’s call the creepy landlord to let her in (his comb over is legitimately horrifying and he smells like cheap beer, ugh).

  
Lydia sets her bag and books on the floor and does her breathing exercises (which are the only good things that ever came out of two years of 300 dollar an hour therapy sessions. Thanks mom and dad). She must have grabbed the _Engineers_ (that’s what she’s calling him, get over it) keys on accident while she was picking up her things.

  
_Ding!_   
_1 new message from Ally_   
_Totes unlike you to lose your keys. Be home in like, 15. Xx_

  
Lydia smiles to herself. She can turn this into a good thing, fifteen minutes of extra studying in a nice quiet hallway.

  
It’s three minutes in when…yeah, you guessed it. The power goes out.

  
Ugh.

  
-

  
Two days and a fresh set of keys later when she runs into the Engineer again.

  
She’s getting a bagel and tea at one of the coffee shops on campus when he stumbles in beside her. He’s wearing less layers and his hair is a little less messy. She frowns.

 

“I have your keys” he says giving her a shy smile. He swings his backpack around and digs into the smallest pocket.

  
She’s ( _totally not_ ) studying his face.

  
She hears the jingle of keys and an “ah-ha!” which prompts her to look anywhere but him before he turns back towards her.

  
She moves to grab them but he pulls away from her before she can fully grasp them.

  
“Oh, no no no. Do you know what _I had to do to find you_?” he says with sort of a manic look in his eye.

  
“No. Nor do I care. Give me my keys before I _take_ them from you.” She steps forward and he takes another step back.

  
“Well I had to go into the trashcan that you threw your cup into and find out what coffee place you go to, which is why I’m totally creeping around this hell hole of a Mathematics building, ugh, you guys are so super pretentious it’s heinous. Anyway, you don’t show up yesterday and I ask the barista about you and his eyes light up and he says _‘who Lydia? Yeah man she always puts like three bucks into the tip jar’_ like I care. After five minutes of rambling he finally tells me that you only get coffee Tuesday and Thursday. So give me my keys and your number and I will totally hand over your sparkly Las Vegas keychain.” All in one breath. Color Lydia impressed and _annoyed._

  
“Listen here you creepy Engineering prick, I don’t have your keys on me and there is no way in hell you’re getting my number. So hand ‘em over before I cause a scene.”

 

“How did you know my major?” He sounds all too full of himself.

  
“I saw your book idiot. Keys. Now.” Her patience is thinning dangerously.

  
“I’m Stiles. You’re pretty”

  
“I don’t care and I know. Keys”

  
Finally, _finally_ , Stiles (which she’ll begrudgingly admit is somehow a fitting name) dangles her keys in front of her.

  
She pulls them out of his hands with an ungrateful grunt.

  
“See ya around Lydia” He gives her one last smile before walking away.

  
-  
It ends like this:

  
She’s walking up the four flights of stairs to her apartment, fiddling with her keys when she notices the tiny writing on one of the keys.

  
_555-603-9948 :)_

She texts him that night.  Out of curiosity _, of course._

  
Two weeks later he kisses her.

**Author's Note:**

> don't say mean things to strangers on the internet. it's rude.


End file.
